Chapter 348: Earl Talks About the Corporate Feud of a Century Ago
When Paige and Enrico entered the grand hall, they were met with a striking scene.
At the head of the table sat an elderly man, elegantly slicing foie gras on his plate. His ethnic garments had been replaced with an expensive, hand-tailored suit, and his tie was neatly fastened. The aura of wisdom had now transformed into one of power and authority.
It was her teacher, the leader of the Medicine Curse Sect, Earl.
Upon seeing them enter, Earl raised his gaze, still smiling warmly. His tone remained affectionate, as he said, “Come, Paige, have a seat.”
Earl gestured with his silver fork, indicating the spot to his left.
Paige calmly walked over with Enrico, handing over her gun to the guards without hesitation. Enrico sat in the chair closest to Earl, positioning himself between them. His face still held a trace of inebriation. Earl glanced at him with a mysterious look. “Sobered up yet, Mr. Gustin?”
Enrico leaned back lazily in his chair, his expression cold as he stared at Earl, choosing not to respond.
Earl didn’t seem to mind. He turned his attention to Paige, still smiling as he asked, “I heard you didn’t resist at all on the way here. Why?”
“If my teacher wishes to see me, how could I, as your disciple, resist?” Paige replied calmly.
“How did you know I was behind this? I’m sure you had plenty of other suspects along the way. Don’t you trust me, your teacher?” Earl spoke as he tasted the foie gras, his tone even carrying a hint of hurt and disappointment.
Paige glanced at the delicate plates on the table in front of her. “You stalled for time and made sure Enrico drank a lot. That was enough to make things clear.”
“Maybe I was just being forced or doing someone else’s bidding,” Earl said, sounding genuinely aggrieved, as if he couldn’t believe she had figured him out so quickly.
“When I asked you about outsiders in River Town, you immediately pointed me in the direction I wanted to go. You didn’t like me investigating River Town because I was looking in the wrong place. The one secretly amassing power in River Town wasn’t Jeremiah Gustin. It was you, which is why you had to suppress me.”
However, Paige still didn’t understand how Earl, who wasn’t originally from River Town and had such a clean background, managed to achieve all of this.
Hearing this, Earl chuckled lowly and glanced at Enrico. “Paige’s sharpness is both endearing and infuriating. What do you think, Enrico?”
Enrico looked back at him, his voice slightly slurred with drunkenness. “Who exactly are you?”
“There’s no rush. Let’s eat first. According to River Town’s customs, the Wine Festival is meant to be celebrated with family,” Earl said, gesturing with his hand. Immediately, chefs entered the room, bringing two beautifully prepared plates of foie gras and placing them before Paige and Enrico.
“Paige, try it. The foie gras is excellent,” Earl urged.
“Alright,” Paige replied, taking up her utensils. She turned to Enrico, who shook his head at her. Earl chuckled, “It’s fine. He drank so much tonight, no matter how hard you try to sober him up, he won’t recover quickly. Let him rest. Eating too much might make him feel worse.”
The tone was that of a caring elder.
Paige didn’t say anything further and began to eat. The foie gras was indeed delicious.
“How is it?” Earl asked, clearly interested in her opinion.
“It’s good,” Paige answered, still composed and calm despite the circumstances.
Though only 24, her poise in such a tense situation was impressive.
Earl’s gaze held even more admiration as he said, “Paige, you are good friends with Kevin from the Lautners family. Their intelligence agency is impressive, but certain events that happened long ago are beyond their reach. For example, the corporate feud a century ago.”
The corporate feud a century ago?
Paige was familiar with that piece of history.
She looked at Earl, waiting for him to continue.
“Let me tell you a story,” Earl said, switching to the next course of the meal. As he ate elegantly, he began, “It was a very dark time in the history of Country A. The conglomerates manipulated prices, making food more valuable than gold. What started as an economic war became a war of flesh and blood. One family would fall, and another would rise. It was a battlefield littered with corpses.”
“…”
“Over the past hundred years, the true events of that feud have been rewritten countless times. I dare say, I’m probably the only person in Country A who knows the real story.”
As Earl spoke, he looked at them intently. “Do you know which three families were the most prominent before the corporate feud?”
“…”
It was a period beyond Paige’s knowledge.
“You don’t know?” Earl seemed a bit surprised that even Enrico remained silent. “The three families-The Davis family, the Gustin family, and the Folsom family.”
The names Davis and Gustin were all too familiar.
Paige furrowed her brow and looked at Enrico, who had also realized the significance. His eyes darkened.
“Exactly, your father’s family and your mother’s family,” Earl said, placing his hand on Enrico’s shoulder. “The Davis family was known for their cunning intellect. They chose to retreat from the feud and hide from the world, even to this day. The Gustin family, on the other hand, produced a true leader in your grandfather. He fought through the bloodshed and kept the Gustin family intact, maintaining their absolute status in Country A to this day. But the Folsom family… they were the biggest casualties of the feud.”
“You’re a member of the Folsom family,” Paige guessed.
It was only natural for her to assume, given Earl’s focus on the topic.
Hearing this, Earl glanced at her before lowering his eyes. “I am Jasper Folsom.”NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.
Jasper Folsom.
So that was his true name.
More chefs entered, bringing new dishes, but Jasper didn’t take another bite. He continued, “That year, my father was still young. It was a drizzly day, and he was sitting in a tree picking fruit when he saw a group of men storm into the house. Gunfire erupted, and blood flowed from the upper floors to the ground, all the way to the gates of the courtyard.”
“…”
Paige listened silently, her expression unchanging.
“All the servants were shot dead. The guards were slaughtered. My father’s siblings were pinned to the ground, their arms hacked off first. After the arms, their legs.”
Jasper-no longer Earl-spoke softly. “My grandparents knelt and begged for mercy, willing to give up all their wealth. But those men thought the Folsom family was still hiding money. So, one by one, they cut my family to pieces before finally beheading them.”
“…”
“The Folsom family was wiped out, each one dying in excruciating agony,” Jasper said.
“That was the tragedy of that era,” Paige responded quietly.